OPUS Mag

May 13 NBA Centers: A Dying Breed?

The NBA is changing right before our eyes and we're probably going to have to accept it right, I'm guessing so. What I mean is teams are starting to experiment with playing small ball now, and centers are starting to become "extinct". Now extinct might be a stretch but what center is dominating right now? Dwight Howard was the best big man in the league at one point, in 2009 he took the Orlando Magic to the finals (not to mention a couple of his best 3 point shooting teammates were on PEDS), fast forward to 2016 Dwight on the Rockets isn't even the same guy on the court anymore, it's like he's playing bozo basketball, even though he did mention he wants to win on Inside the NBA this week, he also is looking for a big paycheck too, and no teams are going to cough up the max except maybe the Atlanta Hawks, the Cavs declined a trade for him, Knicks fans don't want him, teams might have to risk the 1 year deal to see how things progress before making their deals long term.

Dwight was supposed to be Shaq 2.0 when he went to the Lakers in 2012, that situation turned ugly, Dwight ended up getting ejected his last game and signed with Houston the next summer. Lakers fans was throwing so much heat at Howard they were also begging him to stay on the team, you can't put the all the blame on Dwight though, the front office was and still is a mess, Mike Brown was the damn head coach, Kobe was still being "Colorado Kob" going 16-41 and shooting over 4 defenders from the club seats, and Steve Nash time was up, it's obvious Howard didn't want to be apart of that.

Are centers in the NBA a dying breed? That's a tough question now, there's plenty of big men in the league that can play to their potential, Miami has Whiteside, Indiana has Miles Turner, Tristan Thompson has taken Mozgov's spot in Cleveland now, the Spurs have a cheat code secret center name Boban Marjanović, DeAndre Jordan catching lobs in LA, and as much as potential this kid Javale McGee has and I want to see him actually use it, he's on a episode of Shaqtin A Fool every Thursday night. The future of centers is looking pretty shaky, but I'll give it another 2-3 years to see how things really play out.

Mychael Davis is a writer coming out of Ohio who is here to talk entertainment; mostly film. Occasionally he will touch on sports mixed with a little bit of jokes on the side. When he's not working and has free time, Mychael passes time watching & playing basketball, training for boxing but his true passion is writing. He frequently watches TV/movies, studying key elements from film, coming up with new ideas, concept stories, and constantly writing hoping to create for future projects. With a weird yet extraordinary combination of inspiration from music artists and Hollywood like Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Michael Jackson to Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Martin Scorsese and more, it's obvious Mychael will not settle for good and will surpass great.

Mychael Davis is a writer coming out of Ohio who is here to talk entertainment; mostly film. Occasionally he will touch on sports mixed with a little bit of jokes on the side. When he's not working and has free time, Mychael passes time watching & playing basketball, training for boxing but his true passion is writing. He frequently watches TV/movies, studying key elements from film, coming up with new ideas, concept stories, and constantly writing hoping to create for future projects. With a weird yet extraordinary combination of inspiration from music artists and Hollywood like Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Michael Jackson to Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Martin Scorsese and more, it's obvious Mychael will not settle for good and will surpass great.

Coeur Noir is an autofiction novel written by Al Patron. The title is Haitian Creole for black heart or heart of black, in reference to the traits of the main protagonist, Nikolas Daniel...who may or may not be based on Al Patron himself. A coming of age novel Coeur Noir will evoke emotional reactions ranging from but not limited to crying & laughter, all while detailing a path to greatness for Al Pa...pardon...Nikolas Daniel.